Visual appearance of wind turbine tower at long range measured using imaging system

K. Ove S. Gustafsson; Sebastian Möller

doi:10.1117/12.2028652

Translator Disclaimer

17 October 2013 Visual appearance of wind turbine tower at long range measured using imaging system

K. Ove S. Gustafsson, Sebastian Möller

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 8892, Image and Signal Processing for Remote Sensing XIX; 88921Y (2013) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2028652
Event: SPIE Remote Sensing, 2013, Dresden, Germany

Abstract

Wind turbine towers affect the visual appearance of the landscape, as an example in the touristic woodland of Dalecarlia, and the fear is that the visual impact will be too negative to the important tourist trade. The landscape analysis, developed by municipalities around Lake Siljan, limited expansion of wind power, due to the strong visual impression of wind turbine towers. In order to facilitate the assessment of the visual impact of towers a view, from Tällberg, over the ring of height on the other side of Lake Siljan, has been photographed every ten minutes for a year (34,727 images, about 65% of the possible number during a year). Four towers are possible to see in the photos, three of them have been used in the assessment of visual impression. This contribution presents a method to assess visibility of wind turbine towers from photographs, describing the measuring situation (location and equipment) as well as the analytical method and results of the analysis. The towers are possible to see in about 48% of analyzed images taken during daytime with the used equipment. During the summer (winter) months the towers were apparent in 49% (46%) of the images. At least one red warning light was possible to see on towers in about 66% of the night images. One conclusion of this work is that the method to assess the visibility within digital photographs and translate it into the equivalent of a normal eye can only provide an upper limit for visibility of an object.

Citation Download Citation

K. Ove S. Gustafsson and Sebastian Möller "Visual appearance of wind turbine tower at long range measured using imaging system", Proc. SPIE 8892, Image and Signal Processing for Remote Sensing XIX, 88921Y (17 October 2013); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2028652

ACCESS THE FULL ARTICLE